1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method of managing a group of dairy animals to be milked fully automatically.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dairy animals go through a lactation cycle that comprises a number of phases. Calving is at the beginning of the lactation cycle. By calving and the pregnancy preceding the calving the milk production in an udder of the dairy animal is started. Calving is followed by inmilking, or starting up the milk production, in the beginning of which phase colostrum is produced. This is a transition to a phase of producing milk. During the latter phase, a dairy animal will be inseminated again, provided it is still in a proper condition for this purpose. At the end of the phase of producing milk, the milking is reduced and the dairy animal will be dry during some time in preparation of the next calving.
In a generally known method, dairy animals are milked fully automatically by means of a milking robot during the phase of producing milk. Prior to calving, a dairy animal is separated from the group.
The current method of managing a group of dairy animals has the drawback that the dairy animals that are dried up disturb the production process around the milking robots.